Just some things Calgary homeowners with strong home equity can do to protect themselves from identity theft and mortgage fraud. OneRealtor out of our office had two clients where criminals went in on low LTVmortgages or free and clear and registered financing without them knowing, then took off with the money. Below are some suggestions to help protectfrom people going in and accessing money/equity through fraud without actualhomeowners knowing.
Check your credit once a year. www.equifax.com.The cost is around $15.00 and it’s a soft hit on your credit bureau and doesn’t affect your credit. Also you can set up for auto alerts so you are alerted instantly when something is changing on your credit. This could be a good upfront warning so you know if someone is acting outside of your knowledge.
For low loan to value mortgages or freeand clear property set up a LOC to 80% LTV. Although you do have a registeredmortgage on your property if you don’t access the money you don’t get charged interest. This will prevent fraudsters or criminals from accessing money ontop of that and will deter people when they see something already registered onproperty. Also it is a great product to have in place in case of investmentneeds, home re-model, or emergency spending requirements.
Discuss options with your lawyer. Perhapsregistering a caveat that will prevent a lender from registering a mortgage against the title. This could be an alternative solution to registering aLine of Credit if it is’t needed.